URGENT: BC’s FOREST RESERVES in PERIL! PLEASE WRITE-IN and SPEAK UP!

Currently the BC Liberal government is proposing to open up protected forest reserves for logging in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of BC’s central interior. These threatened forest reserve designations include:

- Wildlife Habitat Areas (that protect species at risk like grizzlies and other wildlife)

- Visual Quality Objectives (that protect scenery for tourism)

- Recreation Areas (campsites, hiking areas, etc.)

The proposed environmental deregulation would take place in a massive region in four “Timber Supply Areas” (TSA’s): the Prince George, Quesnel, Williams Lake, and Lakes (Burns Lake area) TSA’s.

The BC Liberal government is proposing a temporary quick-fix for the timber shortage caused by a combination of the pine beetle epidemic (due to climate change and decades of wildfire suppression) and the timber industry’s massive overexpansion and unsustainable logging of vast tracts of both beetle-killed and living, non-affected trees in the BC interior over the past decade. The BC government is hoping to prop-up the unsustainable scale of the bloated forest industry in the region for three or four more years - until the last of the protected forest reserves in the region have also been logged.

It’s like burning up parts of your house for firewood once you’ve depleted all your other wood supplies – it won’t last very long and in the end you’ll be a lot worse off.

This is a precedent-setting proposal of provincial significance that could be used later to justify opening up millions of hectares of protected forest reserves across the province where timber shortages also occur due to a long history of unsustainable logging. We need YOU, your family and your friends to SPEAK UP to ward off the BC Liberal government from moving ahead with this outrageous, destructive proposal.

WRITE-IN and SPEAK UP!

Until July 20th, the Special Committee on Timber Supply, consisting of four BC Liberal and three NDP MLA’s (Members of the Legislative Assembly), will be taking written public input (and video messages, if you are so inclined), holding public hearings in rural communities in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region, and meeting with stakeholders in Vancouver.

The interior logging industry’s massive expansion in recent years under the rationale of tackling the pine beetle epidemic was recognized from the outset as only temporary and clearly unsustainable in the long run. Rewarding unsustainable actions with more unsustainable actions like logging in protected forest reserves is short-sighted and more destructive.

NOTE: If you or friends and family live in BC’s central interior please SPEAK UP at the public hearings in Williams Lake (July 5), Prince George (July 6), Quesnel (July 6), 100 Mile House (July 5), Kamloops (July 12), and Merritt (July 12)! In Vancouver from July 9 to 11, the committee will be meeting with representatives of organizations, stakeholder groups, and individuals (you must schedule this in advance). See details on MLA Bob Simpson’s website at: http://www.bobsimpsonmla.ca/timber-supply-committee/